If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Please note that posts cannot be deleted from the writing section. We will not remove texts that have been corrected, so please do not post any personal information in this section, especially in things like letters.

The Bench, Part two

Dear people.

Please would you help me and proofread this part of my text.

Since I came here I have been asking myself what is wrong with this place. The city is just as any other urban area with streets, shops, people and vehicles. There are thousands of students, youth, workers and also immigrants from the dozens of different countries. The air is clean, streets without any rubbish and whenever one moves everything is well organised.

But something inside me told me that sunny, spring day when I took a stroll through the streets that something was wrong. I felt a pain in my soul and could not find the reason. I walked and saw very beautiful women enjoying the first sunbeams after the long winter; their blond hair gleamed under the sun and looked like gold. They joked and laughed loudly, their healthy teeth white like pearls. Hundreds of the youths sat on the river bank talking, hugging and kissing. Families with children ate ice creams or simply enjoyed the sun.
It was an idyllic scene, especially for someone who just left behind a prison camp, shooting, bomb explosions and ethnic cleansing. I got my own flat and enough money to live an ordinary life and there was no reason for worries. But something heavy hung over me, heavier then lead.

Once when I was a teenager I visited a prison camp in my home town where hundred of thousands of people were killed during the Second World War, many of them slaughtered like animals. I felt such a pain, although of the former prison camp there were almost no traces, but the suffering still lingered in the air.

And now, many years later, I felt the same. Something terrible happened in this beautiful town; there was injustice done to the innocent. As the time passed, I met a Swedish woman who told me that this place was well known for the executions in the past. She decided to show me the place of execution. We went through the forest following a narrow path which went up the hill about fifty meters and when we reached the top I understood why that place was chosen for executions. One could have looked over the whole town as far as the eye could see. The condemned would have stand under the gallows waiting for the executioner to remove the ladder under him and the last what he saw would have been the town and the sky meeting on the horizon. How many of them were innocent? How many of them were "witches", innocent women who were victims of envy and blind hatred?

A few years later I read a book about Sweden of an English journalist who spent about twenty years in this country and it was the first time I discovered about sterilisation of men and women. The latest was performed in 1975 and I was horrified. More then 63 000 people were victims of the idea that people who are not "suitable" should not have a chance to get a child. It means that many patients in this hospital were among them. Probably, there was a similar bench in the same place where I use to sit, and there a chief of the hospital sat thinking of how many of his patients were going to be sterilised in the following weeks.

I wanted to know where did this idea come from, and using Internet I discovered that already 1922. Sweden became the first country in the world to establish a National Institute for Race Biology. They started to take pictures of the different people and measure their body parts. The idea was to eliminate all "wrong" elements from the Nordic race which they saw as superior to the others. What is interesting is the fact that the university from this city and many German universities had very close cooperation. It is not difficult to understand from where Hitler and his henchmen had taken their inspiration. Although we cannot condemn the professor who had good intentions. He wanted to create absolute beauty,
but the final result was gas chambers of Auschwitz and Holocaust.

Not even Alfred Nobel could have known that dynamite he created would cause so much suffering in the world.

Once I found even more interesting information. Already 1938. students demonstrated against the Jews and wanted to see them expelled from the town! The Second World War had not even started and young men and women who should be progressive behaved instead as narrow minded idiots.
By chance, I met an old Swedish man who was teenager at the beginning of the Second World War and asked him to tell me honestly how people behaved during that time.
"My dear boy," he said,"I have seen them gathering and celebrating Hitler's birthday and singing songs."

"And what about the Jews?" I asked.

"They lived in fear knowing that if Germans ever occupied Sweden they would end up in gas chambers. By the way, there were already plans for a prison camp for about 8000 Jews where they would awaiting transport to Germany."

Nowadays when I walk the streets and meet older men and women I ask myself how many of them loved Hitler and his ideology? How many of them believed in the supremacy of the Aryans? They must boil inside when they see so many black people and other immigrants in the street nowadays. They must regret the old times when everyone was blond and there was no smell of curry and other strange spices on the street.

There was one thing that a stranger notices when he meet a Swedish person. The majority of them have very healthy teeth. I am a person who like to analyse things and wants to scratch the surface and see what is hidden behind and suddenly I found the information about the experiment a group of Swedish dentists conducted in the late forties. They wanted to see how sweets affected teeth. They gave a huge amounts of candies to the group of mental patients who ate them day after day without ever brushing their teeth. The final result was everyone of them got completely destroyed their teeth and Swedish professors were very satisfied with their experiment. What is horrible is the fact that none of the patients got help with their destroyed teeth and one can only imagine the suffering they had been forced to endure for years. There were about 700 persons and probably many of them from this hospital.

I believe that some of the professors sat on this bank, watched this peaceful river and thought what was going to be the next project. Probably they thought to make people blind and deaf to see how they react. They had freedom to do what they wanted, their task was not a simple one; they wanted to create a perfect Swede. Probably they would have succeeded if Mc Donalds and Coca Cola did not come and made their body fat and their teeth rotten.

In the summer, I hear the tourists talking in superlatives, "What a beautiful place! Have you see women? Absolutely splendid! What a beautiful nature..!"

I sit beside them wondering if I would tell them something about the other side which is not so bright. What would happen if I told them that the driver who is so bored waiting for hours in his taxi over there has a PhD in history and never got an interview only because his name is "wrong" or the bus driver who will take them to the airport is an engineer who worked for more then twenty years but now drive the bus and feels depressed. Shell I tell them that a person who sold them a chewing gum at the newsagent's was a professor at the Baghdad university but here can only work as a manual worker?
"No!" I tell myself, "they have come here to spend their money and they deserve not to know the truth. Let them leave Sweden with only nice memories."
Sometimes is better to stay ignorant!

Re: The Bench, Part two

Hello Bassim

here is the rest of your story. . . I hope I have been able to do it justice :

Since I came here I have been asking myself what is wrong with this place. The city is just like any other urban area with streets, shops, people and vehicles. There are thousands of students, youth, workers and immigrants from dozens of different countries. The air is clean, the streets without rubbish, and whenever one goes everything is well organised.

However, something inside me, told me on that sunny spring day, when I took a stroll through the streets that something was wrong. I felt a pain in my soul and could not find the reason. I walked and saw beautiful women enjoying the first sunbeams after the long winter; their blond hair gleamed under the sun and looked like gold. They joked and laughed loudly, their healthy teeth white, like pearls. Hundreds of youths sat on the river bank talking, hugging and kissing. Families with children ate ice-creams or simply enjoyed the sun.

It was an idyllic scene, especially for someone who had just left behind a prison camp, shooting, bomb explosions and ethnic cleansing. I had my own flat now and enough money to live an ordinary life and there was no reason for worries, but something heavy hung over me, heavier than lead.

Once, when I was a teenager I visited a prison camp in my home town, where hundred of thousands of people were killed during the Second World War, many of them slaughtered like animals. I felt such a pain, although of the former prison camp there was almost no trace, but suffering still lingered in the air.

Now, many years later, I felt the same. Something terrible had happened in this beautiful town; injustices had been done to the innocent. As time passed, I met a Swedish woman who told me that this place was well known for its executions in the past. She led me to the place of execution. We went through the forest following a narrow path which went a short way up a hill and when we reached the top I understood why that place had been chosen. One could gaze over the whole town as far as the eye could see. The condemned would have stood under the gallows waiting for the executioner to remove the ladder from under him and the last thing he saw would have been the town and the sky meeting on the horizon. How many of them were innocent? How many of them were "witches", innocent women who were victims of envy and blind hatred?

A few years later I read a book about Sweden, of an English journalist who spent about twenty years in this country and it was the first time I heard about sterilisation of men and women. The last time this operation was performed was in 1975 and I was horrified. More then 63,000 people were victims of the idea that people who are not "suitable" should not have the chance to have a child. It means that many patients in this hospital were among them. Probably, there was a similar bench in the same place where I used to sit, and there a chief of the hospital sat thinking of how many of his patients were going to be sterilised in the following weeks.

I wanted to know where this idea came from, and using the Internet I discovered that already in 1922 these operations were performed/they did these operations on people. Sweden was the first country in the world to establish a National Institute for Race Biology. They started to take pictures of different people and measure their body parts. The idea was to eliminate all "wrong" elements from the Nordic race, which they saw as superior to other races. What is interesting is the fact that the city university and many German universities had a very close cooperation/association. It is not difficult to understand from where Hitler and his henchmen had taken their inspiration. Although we cannot condemn the professor who had good intentions, he wanted to create absolute beauty, but the final result were the gas chambers of Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

Not even Alfred Nobel could have known that the dynamite he created would cause so much suffering in the world.

Once I found some even more interesting information. Already in 1938 students demonstrated against the Jews and wanted to see them expelled from the town! The Second World War had not even started when /before the Second World War even began young men and women who should have been more progressive, behaved instead as narrow-minded idiots.

By chance, I met an old Swedish man who was a teenager at the beginning of the Second World War and asked him to tell me honestly how people behaved during that time. "My dear boy," he said, "I have seen them gathering and celebrating Hitler's birthday and singing songs."

"And what about the Jews?" I asked. "They lived in fear knowing that if the Germans ever occupied Sweden they would end up in gas chambers. By the way, there were already plans for a prison camp for about 8000 Jews where they would await transport to Germany."

Today when I walk the streets and meet older men and women I ask myself how many of them loved Hitler and his ideology. How many of them believed in the supremacy of the Aryans? They must boil/rage inside when they see so many black people and other immigrants on the streets. They must regret the old times when everyone was blond and there was no smell/aroma of curry and other strange spices on the street.

One thing a stranger notices when he meets Swedish people, is that the majority of them have very healthy teeth. I am a person who likes to analyse things and wants to scratch beneath the surface and see what is hidden behind and suddenly/unexpectedly found the information about an experiment conducted by a group of Swedish dentists in the late forties. They wanted to see how sweets affected teeth: they gave huge amounts of candy to a group of mental patients who ate it day after day without ever brushing their teeth. The final result was each one of them/everyone completely destroyed their teeth and the Swedish professors were very satisfied with their experiment. What is horrible is the fact that none of the patients got help with their destroyed teeth and one can only imagine the suffering they had been forced to endure for years. There were about 700 involved and probably many of them came from this hospital.

. . . it won't allow me to post all the text into one box so I shall put the rest into another post. . .

Re: The Bench, Part two

here is the rest of the story . . .

I imagine that some of the professors sat on this bank, watched this peaceful river and thought what their next project might be. Probably/possibly they thought to make people blind and deaf to see how they would react/to observe their reactions. They had the freedom to do whatever they wanted, their task was not a simple one; they wanted/wished to create the perfect Swede. Perhaps they would have succeeded if McDonald’s and Coca-Cola had not come along and made their bodies’ fat and their teeth rotten.

In the summer, I hear tourists talking in superlatives, "What a beautiful place! Have you seen the women? Absolutely splendid! What beautiful scenery!…."

I sit beside them wondering if I would/should tell them something about the other side, which is not so bright. What would happen if I told them that the driver who is so bored waiting for hours in his taxi over there has a PhD in history and never got an interview just because he has the ‘wrong’ name; or the bus driver, who will take them to the airport, is an engineer who worked for more then twenty years but now drives the bus and feels depressed. Shall I tell them that a person who sold them chewing-gum at the newsagent's was a professor at Baghdad University but here he can only find employment as a manual worker?

"No!" I tell myself, "they have come here to spend their money and they deserve not to know the truth. Let them leave Sweden with their nice memories – and their illusions intact”.

Re: The Bench, Part two

Thank you Bassim, I am glad to be of help to you.
The story is very interesting; you have excellent style and ability in relating the narrative in English, and are well able to convey mood, feeling and atmosphere.
Keep up the good work!
Banderas is a fan too!
Best wishes for a nice weekend.

Re: The Bench, Part two

Svaneska

Your words warm my heart! Writing is a thing which really makes me happy and I would be glad if I can make other people happy with my texts although they are sometimes "dark."
I feel I have to write and describe the feelings one cannot read about in papers or boring and bland scientific reports.